Novel Tea
by Lucathia Rykatu
Summary: One summer, five years after he started at Hogwarts, Remus runs into one Sirius Black at the quaint little teashop around the corner.


**Novel Tea**

by Lucathia

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter and am making no profit from writing this.

**Notes:** This is an old fic of mine from 2005 that I wrote for the remus reads ficathon. I had always planned to expand this piece, but I never did. So, here's the fic pretty much just as I had submitted it for the ficathon.

* * *

He was currently sitting at a small, round table by the window, leafing through a muggle novel with a warm cup of tea and a half eaten meal in front of him.

Remus loved Hogwarts. He truly did. If he ever wanted to relive a happy memory, all he would have to do is recall one of his memories at Hogwarts. However, there were also the less-than-comfortable memories. While Remus was ecstatic at receiving his shiny Prefect's badge at the start of the previous school year, he soon discovered that he wasn't fit for the role at all.

Turning a blind eye to James and Sirius when they took their pranks a little too far with Snape was not what an ideal Prefect was supposed to do. But they were his friends, and Remus treasured his friends. He was glad when summer came around. He was tired of having to choose. Summer meant escape. It meant relaxation.

He lived not two minutes away from a quaint little teashop. Said little teashop was just around the corner of the street. It wasn't very noticeable, given that it was small and seemed to fade out of view with its peeling paint. What drew Remus in was the fact that it had its windows lined with old, tattered muggle novels.

The teashop was named "Novel Tea." Remus laughed at the name of the teashop when he first saw it and knew immediately that he was going to be spending a lot of time there. After all, reading was always a novelty for him. Nothing beat having a cup of tea in front of him and a novel in his hand. So, just like last summer, Remus found himself over at the teashop, sipping at his tea, nibbling at his food, all while widely engrossed in a novel he was almost about to finish.

The little bells over the door jingled, but Remus didn't look up. Only seven more pages…how were things ever going to get wrapped up in just seven pages? Remus wished that the novel were longer. His eyes darted across the page, soaking up the last few words.

"Iced tea, please. Or is it cold tea? Blimey, just give me something cold."

His eyes froze. That voice...he never thought he'd hear that voice inside this teashop, this little quiet corner of peace. It couldn't be, right? It was summer right now. They were on summer vacation. They weren't in Hogwarts. He didn't like quaint little tea shops. He didn't live around here…

Remus looked up slowly, hoping that he had heard wrong, but there he was, Sirius Black, prankster extraordinaire, sitting at the other side of the teashop, albeit a little glumly. When Sirius glanced away from the waitress, his eyes roaming the shop, Remus quickly looked back down, trying to hide behind the novel in his hands.

_He didn't see me. He doesn't see me right now. If I don't look back up, he won't see me and then I leave and he'll never have known that I was here and-_

"Remus?" asked the almost incredulous voice.

Wonderful. Just wonderful. There went all his quality reading time. Relaxation was most likely impossible with Sirius around.

However, when Remus looked back up, he greeted Sirius with a small smile.

Sirius invited himself to Remus's table, pulling the chair out with its back to the table. Sirius plopped down, his legs straddling the back of the chair while he leaned on the table. "You live around here?" asked Sirius.

Remus nodded. He realized that he hadn't ever told the others his address, though not intentionally. There just hadn't been a need since the owls knew where to find him. In turn, Remus didn't know where Sirius lived either. They only knew where James lived, only because the messy haired boy loved inviting people over to his house.

"You?" asked Remus in return.

Sirius nodded, that dismal look coming over him again as they lapsed into silence. Something was weighing on Sirius's mind, but after sitting there for five minutes of silence, with the only disturbance being the waitress bringing over Sirius's order, Remus figured that Sirius didn't want to talk about whatever was on his mind. Not without prodding on Remus's behalf.

"So, Sirius, I've never seen you at this teashop before."

"I take it you come here often," replied Sirius with a glance around the shop. "Lots of books to satisfy your cravings."

"Exactly. Lots of books. But you don't like reading."

_So why are you here? What's wrong?_

Instead of answering, Sirius pulled a book from beside the window and started reading.

Remus found that he didn't mind the company.

* * *

Over the rest of the summer, Sirius became a frequent customer of Novel Tea. Oftentimes, either Remus, Sirius, or both of them could be seen sitting at the table besides the window with a cup of tea in front of them and a book in one hand. They broke into heated arguments about the characters and the plot, and what the whole point of the novel was. They certainly upset other customers of the teashop with their arguments, but their arguments broke out even with the warnings. However, they did try to contain their arguments to whispers when they were warned a third time.

The summer passed much more quickly than any previous summer. Remus realized that Sirius had carefully evaded telling him about what was bothering him, though from their snippets of conversation and whatever slipped out of Sirius's mouth during their debates, Remus deduced that once again, this had to have something to do with Sirius's family, the lovely Blacks. But summer ended, and Remus once again found himself torn between his responsibilities and keeping his friends in line. The Sirius who sat down with him to read muggle novels with a flare was once again gone, and back was the mischievous prankster who was ruthless with his torturing of Snape.

Remus turned a blind eye to everything, until it was too late and Sirius had told Severus how to get past the Whomping Willow.

Not that he had any ability to stop Sirius's stupidity at that time since Remus himself was the snarling beast that Severus was trying to get away from.

Had the last summer meant nothing to Sirius at all? Which one was the real Sirius? The intelligent and thoughtful boy or the cruel and brash boy?

Remus found himself longing for an equilibrium between the two…a prankster who didn't take things too far, who knew when to stop and when to enjoy the little things, who would never let something weigh himself down but would enjoy life and get the best out of it.

He stared at the ceiling in the hospital ward, wishing that the year was over already and he was back in his safe little teashop where things hadn't been so confusing.

* * *

He was disappointed when Sirius didn't show up at the teashop. But it was a given, since Remus hadn't exactly told Sirius that he had forgiven him. Remus tried reading the current novel in his hands, though his mind was anywhere but focused on the story.

Sirius didn't appear all throughout the summer, until one day, the tiny bells jingled and Remus glanced up and there he was again, gray eyes, pale skin, and dark hair glistening in the daylight.

"What took you so long?" demanded Remus.

Sirius was taken aback. "You were expecting me?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" replied Remus, even though his mind was telling him that it wasn't like they told each other that they'd come together to read again this summer. He just thought that it was only natural that they do so…

"But I thought-"

And there was that too.

"I forgive you."

"You what?"

"I said 'I forgive you.'"

"Oh."

"So eloquent, Sirius."

"Thank you. Thank you so much Remus. You don't know what this pass year has been like, being ostracized like that."

"I understand, Padfoot."

A comfortable silence came over them, and Remus found that he could once again finish his current novel with ease. Sirius had pulled out a novel to read as well.

When Sirius's order came, he offhandedly mentioned that he had ran away from home.

"I'm living at James's right now. It's…kind of far from here."

So there was another reason why Sirius hadn't been coming by.

"But, I'm going to be learning apparition soon, so it shouldn't be a problem. Even if it were, there's always the floo, right? But wait, is this shop connected to the floo network? And I do like hearing those little bells jingle when I come in looking for you, announcing my presence here-"

"Sirius, you're babbling."

"I am?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Remus Lupin left Novel Tea that day with a wide smile, knowing that all was right with the world. At least, all was right with his little world in the corner of the little teashop with its windows lined with muggle novels.

* * *

**the end**


End file.
